The front cover of Time magazine shows a glowering hoody superimposed on a Union Jack for its feature on Britain's youth

The weekly magazine, which goes on sale across the world today, cites a survey by the children's charity TS Rebel which found last year that more than a fifth of Britons avoided going out at night rather than risk encountering groups of intimidating youths.

A 3,200 word article states: "It's easy to see why.

"The boys and girls who casually pick fights, have sex and keep the emergency services fully occupied are often fuelled by cheap booze."

It says that British youngsters drink far more than their European counterparts, are more frequently involved in violence and are more likely to try drugs, adding that English girls are the most sexually active in Europe.

"Small wonder then, that a 2007 Unicef study of child well-being in 21 industrialised countries placed Britain firmly at the bottom of the table," the article states.

The magazine, which has a circulation of four million, has put the story on its international front cover. It will also feature the article in its US editions, providing further embarrassment to the Government.

Time also says that Labour's ambitious target of halving child poverty by 2010, set by Tony Blair, is unlikely to be achieved.

It states: "The British have a long propensity to recoil in horror from their children - whether they be Teddy boys in the 1950s, mods and rockers in the Sixties, skinheads in the Seventies or just a bunch of boisterous teens making a lot of noise but little real mischief.

"But it is also true that for what Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children's Society, call a 'significant minority' of British children, unhappiness - and the criminality, excessive drinking and drug-taking and promiscuity that is its expression - really have created a crisis.

"All over the world, teenagers give their parents headaches.

"Why are the migraines induced by British kids felt across a whole society?

"Part of the reason may be that parents aren't always around to help socialise their children - or even just to show them affection.

"Compared to other cultures, British kids are less integrated into the adult world and spend more time with their peers.

"Add to the mix a class structure and an education system that rewards the advantaged, and some children are bound to be left in the cold."

"Alcohol Concern noted that one in three British men and one in five women drink double the amount considered safe at least once a week," it says, citing pictures of Princes William and Harry leaving nightclubs.